With the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season ending in the next few weeks, all 30 clubs have one player on the ballot for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award. The award recognizes each player’s extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
According to MLB.com, “The list of nominees for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award features players whose various community and philanthropic activities have focused on important issues ranging from awareness and fundraising to support those with cancer and other illnesses or special needs, education for young people, natural disaster relief, outreach to underserved children and communities in the United States and abroad”.
Clemente, being the first Latin-born player to be inducted into Cooperstown, was a humanitarian who always gave back to his native of Puerto Rico during his 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before passing away on December 31, 1972, when he was on the Douglas DC-7 cargo plane that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean due to an engine failure off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico and heading to Managua, Nicaragua due to the massive earthquake that happened to the country on December 23, 1972.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America held a special election for the National Baseball Hall of Fame on March 20, 1973, and the committee voted to waive the waiting period for Clemente due to the circumstances of his death. The BBWAA posthumously elected him for induction into the Hall of Fame, giving him 393 out of 424 available votes, for 92.7% of the votes, and he was inducted with Billy Evans, Monte Irvin, George Kelly, Warren Spahn, and Mickey Welch as the 1973 Hall of Fame Class.
Hall of Famer Willie Mays was the first player to be nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award in 1971, before Clemente’s final season in 1972, when Brooks Robinson won the award after the Say Hey Kid.
There have been 20 Hall of Famers that have won the Roberto Clemente Award since 1971, with Al Kaline in 1973, Willie Stargell in 1974, Lou Brock in 1975, Rod Carew in 1977, Phil Niekro in 1980, Gary Carter in 1989, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1992, Barry Larkin in 1993, Dave Winfield in 1994, Ozzie Smith in 1995, Kirby Puckett in 1996, Tony Gwynn in 1999, Jim Thome in 2002, Edgar Martinez in 2005, Craig Biggio in 2007, Derek Jeter in 2009, and David Ortiz in 2011.
The only other players from Puerto Rico besides Martinez who have won the Roberto Clemente Award are Carlos Delgado in 2006, Carlos Beltran in 2013, and Yadier Molina in 2018.
Carew was the first international-born player from the Gatún, Panama Canal Zone, to win the Roberto Clemente Award, and there would not be another international-born award winner until Sammy Sosa in 1998.
Albert Pujols in 2008, Nelson Cruz in 2021, and Carlos Carrasco in 2019 were the other international-born players who won the Roberto Clemente Award.
This year, six international-born players are nominees for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award: Jesus Luzardo of the Miami Marlins, Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers, Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals, Pablo Lopez of the Minnesota Twins, Liam Hendriks of the Boston Red Sox and Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets.
Baseball is growing globally with the number of MLB international-born players making their mark during the last few seasons. There were 265 international players to start the 2024 season, which marked the fourth-most all-time on Opening Day rosters, behind only 2020 (291, with expanded 30-man active rosters), 2022 (275, with expanded 28-man active rosters), and 2023 (270, with 26-man active rosters).
With 2024 being a season through ups and downs with Mays and Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda passing away in June, the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award will have more meaning than most seasons and the future of the sport from America’s Pastime to a Global Game.
The 2024 Roberto Clemente Award will be announced during the 2024 World Series.
2024 Roberto Clemente Award Nominees
*Jason Adam remains the Rays’ nominee after being traded to the Padres
Paul Sewald (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee Brewers)
Chris Sale (Atlanta Braves)
Pablo López (Minnesota Twins)
James McCann (Baltimore Orioles)
Francisco Lindor (New York Mets)
Liam Hendriks (Boston Red Sox)
Marcus Stroman (New York Yankees)
Patrick Wisdom (Chicago Cubs)
Mason Miller (Oakland Athletics)
Andrew Vaughn (Chicago White Sox)
Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies)
Brent Suter (Cincinnati Reds)
David Bednar (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Steven Kwan (Cleveland Guardians)
Manny Machado (San Diego Padres)
Kyle Freeland (Colorado Rockies)
Mike Yastrzemski (San Francisco Giants)
Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers)
J.P. Crawford (Seattle Mariners)
Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals)
Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals)
Jason Adam* (Tampa Bay Rays)
Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels)
Marcus Semien (Texas Rangers)
Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Chris Bassitt (Toronto Blue Jays)
Jesús Luzardo (Miami Marlins)
Josiah Gray (Washington Nationals)
Photo Credit: Manny Machado #13 of the San Diego Padres celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on September 06, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
